Do As I Say Not As I Do: A Look at the Steroid Hearing

(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Baseball players are human beings.  They took an easy way, although illegal, to increase their pay.  Not only this, we glorified them for it.  Can we really blame them for doing so?

Is it any different than what goes on in government or Wall Street?  I find it odd we wave our finger at these men when we should probably look in a mirror.

Rep. Thomas Davis

Scolded those big, bad baseball players for putting needles in themselves, but divorced his wife, whom he had three kids with, in 2003 to marry his mentor and campaign manager, Jeannemarie Devolites. 

Jeannemarie was one of Davis' first hires at ICG, a firm that assists businesses in obtaining government contracts, right before marrying her.

His wife continues to work for ICG, which paid her $78,000 in 2005 for working 10 to 20 hours a week, primarily at home on her cell phone.  Must be nice.

Rep. Mark Souder

He was also at the steroid hearing, telling Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Curt Schilling, and Frank Thomas how steroids are bad.  He's never made a mistake before...or has he?

"Fundamentally, it's wrong," Souder said, after voting to "honor Christmas," of Islam because part of the Quran refers to killing infidels. "I find their religion offensive."

"The fundamentals of their religion is they want to kill Jews and wipe them off the face of the earth and any other allies. I simply am not going to praise a religion that believes that," Souder said.

"I believe Jews are God's chosen people," he continued. "It's fundamental in their faith, from the very beginning, that Jews are dogs and should be wiped from the face of the earth. Why is that great?"

As long as you do not put needles in yourself, honor Christmas, and believe in the same god as Souder, you are OK in his book.  Otherwise, you are offensive.

Sen. Jim Bunning

Where to start with this man?

In April 2006, Time magazine called him one of "America's Five Worst Senators" saying he "shows little interest in policy unless it involves baseball."  The article also stated Bunning's "bizarre behavior" in the 2004 Senate race. 

The 2004 Senate race put Bunning against Daniel Mongiardo. Bunning claimed Mongiardo "looked like one of Saddem Hussein's sons." He attended a debate via satellite because he refused to come in person where it was clear he was using a teleprompter. 

He also made unsubstantiated claims his wife was attacked by Mongiardo supporters and finally referred to Mongiardo as "limp wristed".

Bunning won the election by one percentage point. 

In October 2004, Bunning told reporters, "Let me explain something: I don't watch the national news, and I don't read the paper. I haven't done that for the last six weeks. I watch Fox News to get my information."

There is a good chance he is not reading this. 

Rep. Dan Burton

"We must educate our children about the dangers of drugs," Burton said in 1990, "and impose tough new penalties on dealers."

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